Amazes me how highly some people rate players that they have probably not seen play, even on television. It will be some time after the end of our guys participation in the World Cup that we will see them available for first team action. by then we will have informed opinions about some of the new lads. It all looks very exciting, role on the start of the season.

A lot of us do watch the Super 15 because why wouldn't you, it's like the prem turned up to about 200%.

I certainly haven't.
But how many have watched any of the Pro D2 games that Letiagaga has played to pass any opinion on him at all, let alone offer an opinion on which side of the scrum he is better at or if he is better than any of our current props?

I reckon we view him as a tighthead based on what I know of the other players but if he is better than Cortes or Heyes is a mystery at the moment because I've not seen him play and I seriously doubt anyone on here has seen him play.

We are mostly making the same assumption on which side he will play. There's some highlights reels which show his carrying and I don't see that we would have pursued a player for two seasons if we didn't envisage him being a key part of the squad. As Cortes is very limited (set piece and that's about your lot) and Heyes is very raw but with masses of potential it is fair to assume Leitagaga has been brought in as Cole's understudy. We might be wrong but then again players who we have seen play plenty elsewhere might not adapt to the team or environment as expected so our assumptions about them may also be wrong.

A lot of it will be speculation for at least a couple more months.

Highlights are not the best though. They whet the appetite on new players but by their nature gloss over the bad things, once players are here we judge them far more by their negatives than their positives. Particularly if their negatives are poor fitness, durability or defensive discpline things which are never in highlights.

I understand what you mean by "pursued for two seasons" but feel that is something of a misnomer, we signed him last summer. This was in several reputable French papers and his agent was reported to the French licensing authorities over it. Prior to that I would be dubious if we chased him for long, he had only been at Biarritz for one season and was playing club rugby in Auckland prior to Jan 2017. I would describe that more as moving early and decisively. Which would suggest we've got him on a decent deal and we feel he could have a high potential.

But when so many people are saying he will be in our best 23 as soon as October I find that a bit odd. He was practically a unanimous selection on the first page! I like Heyes and hope he's still receiving the nod in October unless Leatigaga comes over and really sets the house on fire straight away!

We are mostly making the same assumption on which side he will play. There's some highlights reels which show his carrying and I don't see that we would have pursued a player for two seasons if we didn't envisage him being a key part of the squad. As Cortes is very limited (set piece and that's about your lot) and Heyes is very raw but with masses of potential it is fair to assume Leitagaga has been brought in as Cole's understudy. We might be wrong but then again players who we have seen play plenty elsewhere might not adapt to the team or environment as expected so our assumptions about them may also be wrong.

A lot of it will be speculation for at least a couple more months.

Highlights are not the best though. They whet the appetite on new players but by their nature gloss over the bad things, once players are here we judge them far more by their negatives than their positives. Particularly if their negatives are poor fitness, durability or defensive discpline things which are never in highlights.

I understand what you mean by "pursued for two seasons" but feel that is something of a misnomer, we signed him last summer. This was in several reputable French papers and his agent was reported to the French licensing authorities over it. Prior to that I would be dubious if we chased him for long, he had only been at Biarritz for one season and was playing club rugby in Auckland prior to Jan 2017. I would describe that more as moving early and decisively. Which would suggest we've got him on a decent deal and we feel he could have a high potential.

But when so many people are saying he will be in our best 23 as soon as October I find that a bit odd. He was practically a unanimous selection on the first page! I like Heyes and hope he's still receiving the nod in October unless Leatigaga comes over and really sets the house on fire straight away!

I'm a big fan of Heyes as well and I want him around in a Tigers shirt for the next decade and some. I don't want to see a young prop continually thrust into senior rugby I want to see him rotated in and out of the team so that he can grow into his role and develop physically so that he's up to the challenge long term. We should be looking to get Heyes a good number of appearances again and with Cole a) still in and around the England setup and b) not getting any younger there should be opportunities. We need to be clever in how we rotate our pack this season so that we keep people fresh after what will be a very long season for those that are coming from the RWC and Super Rugby.

Personally I advocated Leitagaga off the bench because he looks a Mulipola esque monster and unleashing both him and Bateman with twenty minutes to go against tiring defences should give us great carrying options in the final quarter so we have go forward if chasing a win or TBP/LBP.

Good blend of youth and experience. Thompson would be my pick as skipper for the PRC games. If there were injuries in the back three (beyond my presumption that Olowofela and Thompstone may still being out injured) then I'd happily see Freddie Steward in the PRC this year.

So if all are fit you are not thinking Dave Denton could do a job at all?

Sadly, yet to hear anything to suggest that Denton has returned to contact training.

He commented in April that he was optimistically hoping to play 6 or so games this season and 20 games over the next two. I sincerely hope he manages it but his continuing struggles with concussive symptoms when undergoing return-to-play protocols aren't encouraging.

Tigers being in the market for Roelof Smit would also suggest they were looking at replacement for him, as I struggle to see how they could fit both in the cap. Were Denton not to play a game this season he could remain on the Tigers payroll, and medical care, without his wage coming under the cap though.

I'm a big fan of Heyes as well and I want him around in a Tigers shirt for the next decade and some. I don't want to see a young prop continually thrust into senior rugby I want to see him rotated in and out of the team so that he can grow into his role and develop physically so that he's up to the challenge long term. We should be looking to get Heyes a good number of appearances again and with Cole a) still in and around the England setup and b) not getting any younger there should be opportunities. We need to be clever in how we rotate our pack this season so that we keep people fresh after what will be a very long season for those that are coming from the RWC and Super Rugby.

Personally I advocated Leitagaga off the bench because he looks a Mulipola esque monster and unleashing both him and Bateman with twenty minutes to go against tiring defences should give us great carrying options in the final quarter so we have go forward if chasing a win or TBP/LBP.

Yes, fingers crossed one of the big themes of Pat Howard's mentoring is how to plan and rotate throughout the season. It was one of his biggest strengths and has been one of our biggest weaknesses through the last probably 7 or 8 years.

In effect we've between 64 & 78 "slots" to fill this season in the position. That's two tightheads for each match day squads and our season will run between 32 and 39 matches depending upon progress in the cups.

I'd like to see Heyes take somewhere around 20 of them in one way or the other. From your comment I'd guess you're the same. Cole should take 22* of those slots without an issue, he has done for neigh on a decade now, which leaves between 22 & 36 appearances for Leitagaga, Cortes plus probably Dimen for one or two too.

*22 used to be the cap for club appearances, I think it might be higher depending on if he is selected for the 6N and how often he actually plays in the RWC.

So our first premiership games are Worcester (a), Saracens (h) and Gloucester (h). Even with our international call ups we’ll still be able to put out a pretty strong team. Looks like we’ll sadly be missing Denton but still.